episode_0170

As Seraphine entered the student council room and exchanged greetings with Luke and the others.

Sitting in the seat Luke had guided her to, she waited for the other student council members to appear.

Well, some of the council members already knew about Seraphine’s situation, and they roughly knew who the members of Seraphine’s council were from the original story.

As she sat in her seat in the student council room, chatting with the other members, familiar faces began to appear one by one in various ways.

“Long time no see, Lilith.”

“…Nice to see you again, Miss Auguste.”

“Did you have a good summer vacation last year? I spent a leisurely vacation at the villa owned by the Auguste family last summer.”

“I see. I’m glad you had a good time.”

“…If it’s okay with you, would you like to go on vacation together next summer?”

“I hope you don’t cling too much to my maid, Lizzie Lynn Auguste.”

“…I apologize.”

A noble lady who boasted about her own summer vacation story, but quickly averted her gaze and fled when Ethan appeared.

“Is everyone here~? Hm? The lady over here seems unfamiliar~?”

“Nice to meet you for the first time, Senior Orion. I’m Lilith Blackwood Rosewood, a first-year student in the Magic Department.”

“Ah, you’re that girl~? I’ve heard a lot about you~.”

“Me? What have you heard…?”

“Just, you know~. This and that~? Even though you’re a first-year, you’re quite famous already, aren’t you, along with Agnes among the first-year students in the Magic Department~?”

“Senior Orion, please don’t get too close to my maid…”

“Oh my, Ethan~! Long time no see~! It’s been since we last met at the royal palace, right? You seem a bit taller than before. Have you become a bit more manly~?”

“…Yes?”

“Please stay away from Ethan, Senior Orion!”

A mysterious figure in the game, who seems dangerous in many ways, and a commoner character who is known only by their ‘name’ without any other information.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Gwyn Everett, a second-year student in the Technology Department.”

“Yes. I’m Lilith Blackwood Rosewood, a first-year student in the Magic Department.”

“I’ll remember that.”

“Thank you.”

A character with such a faint presence that there was hardly any information revealed about them, even more so than Orion.

It was the first meeting between Gwyn Everett, Luke’s rival character in the game route.

***

Gwyn Everett.

To be honest, apart from his name and appearance, he was someone I hardly remembered.

You might say, ‘How can you not know the rival character after spending thousands of hours in Luminor Academy?’ But this guy was so faint in presence that it was almost impossible to remember him.

Quiet, with no connections to major characters, and therefore insignificant in the story, he could be seen as a student NPC at best.

Short brown hair, around 180 cm tall, with a rough personality.

Just the kind of character the Luminor Academy production team would say, ‘Let’s make a suitable character for Luke since we’re getting tired of creating individual personalities for the kids.’

He had no memorable features, no main story to speak of. Even characters like Ethan or Cahram, who had main stories, didn’t compare.

Even as a rival character, he didn’t act as a rival. Once the protagonist started to build a friendship with Luke, this guy naturally disappeared from the story like air.

So why call this extra-like guy a rival character?

When Luke showed no signs of interest, the ending simply mentioned that he got married to her in one line and that was it.

Since it does connect to Luke in the end, he treats her as a rival.

“Anyway, he’s someone who has nothing to do with me.”

He was a character who had no chance of being involved in the original story with Rilis or Edan. It was even questionable if he would be connected to a character other than Luke in the original story.

With the main characters already entangled in various ways, there was no attention to spare for a character with no presence.

As mentioned earlier, this semester was a busy time due to various reasons.

“Since Vice President Gwyn is also here, let’s start the meeting. The first agenda we need to address starting today is….”

The first day when all student council members gathered, including me who couldn’t attend the previous day. Under Seraphine’s leadership, the student council tasks began.

Instead of interfering with agenda proposals or questions, I focused solely on quietly organizing documents.

“Stay under the radar, just go with the flow.”

After all, I had a separate reason for joining the student council.

To establish the image of the alliance between Seraphine’s 3rd Princess faction, which was sure to rise, and the Blackwood family to be used for potion production for the end-of-semester hunt.

If I could proceed with those two without a hitch, the rest didn’t matter much.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

It had been about two weeks since I started following the order of the student council led by Seraphine.

A season of slight relaxation after taking the midterms for the second semester.

During the two weeks, there were no special events that occurred. After all, there was no reason for special events to happen to Edan and Rilis, who were not the main characters.

Perhaps the most special thing that happened during that time was that I miserably lost again during Harold’s sparring session in the middle of his class?

Compared to the second sparring, I lasted a bit longer this time, but I still couldn’t create a fierce battle like the first one.

Maybe it was because my overall stats had increased due to reaching level 4 in one go. There may have been some changes in my dagger skills as well.

Come to think of it, maybe the first sparring was my first and last chance.

Considering that Harold would become more familiar with how to deal with me the more we faced off, I should have landed a blow somehow during the first sparring when he had no information about me.

I probably won’t go the whole semester without winning a single match.

Of course, just because a magic student couldn’t beat a swordsmanship professor wouldn’t mean I’d fail, but I couldn’t help feeling a bit uneasy about not being able to score a single point against Harold personally.

…It might be because of the strange dream I started having frequently after my third defeat to Harold.

“You’re pathetic, Rilis. Even if you fight with a dagger, how can you go a whole semester without landing a proper attack?”

“I’m sorry, Master. My skills are lacking…”

“A maid who handles such a pathetic sword can no longer stay by Edan’s side. Starting next year, you will leave Blackwood Manor and retire as a maid.”

“Oh, please, Master! Just give me one more chance…!”

After waking up from such a strange dream a few times and feeling disoriented, it was inevitable that my consciousness would be drawn to that part.

Well, I knew that Harold wouldn’t actually dismiss a full-time maid for such a reason. It’s just that my dreams have been like this lately.

Anyway, regardless of the dream content, I needed to somehow win a match against Harold before the end of the semester to show a good impression.

With just three short swords, Harold was increasingly feeling embarrassed as he blocked all the attack and support magic with just one sword.

No matter how skilled the opponent was as a sword master, I honestly wanted to win at least once. Especially when the opponent was sealing both their energy and magic during the fight.

As I watched Ethan and Harold’s training duel from the audience seats, I couldn’t help but think about it.

As someone who was about to reach Sword Expert level, Ethan was continuing the duel in a completely different way from the one Harold and I had.

-Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

“Haah, hah, haaah…!”

“….”

Ethan swung his twin swords with the intent to devour his opponent in front of him, while Harold blocked his sword with a serious expression.

It seemed that Ethan had undergone quite a change in mindset after the battle with the Kraken a while ago.

Since that battle, Ethan’s sword had grown at an unbelievable speed.

Even in the evaluation duel with Harold, he showed a much stronger and more powerful form, not getting tired as he swung his twin swords, and even in the weekly practical monster subjugation class, he achieved more results than before.

It seemed that witnessing the threshold of Sword Expert had ignited a fire in Ethan’s growth motivation.

-Swish!

“…Kk!”

“Haah, hah, haaah….”

With Ethan’s horizontal slash, Harold’s sword momentarily flew into the air.

Even the students watching couldn’t help but let out a gasp.

“….Huh?”

“Did Harold Professor just throw his sword…?”

“As expected of the Blackwood family….”

A complete victory for the first time during the duel with Harold.

Among the students taking the same class, Ethan became the second to achieve a complete victory following the footsteps of the top student.

“Ethan.”

“…Yes.”

“Since you have achieved a complete victory against me, I will treat your grades for this semester as perfect, just like the top student.”

“Thank you!”

“Also, from now on, I will also use magic in our duels. Be prepared.”

“Yes!”

Among the advanced class, Ethan was the second to graduate from Harold’s class this semester, following the top student.

As an intermediate class student, I still haven’t won a single match against Harold, who doesn’t use energy or magic.

Everyone has their own strengths, so it was inevitable, but it was still frustrating.

After finishing the duel with Harold, I gave Ethan a casual compliment as he returned to my side.

“Congratulations, Ethan. Your skills are improving rapidly as the days go by.”

“…Thank you, Relis.”

“Since you won against your master today, I will prepare a reward for you tonight, Ethan.”

“…About that, Relis.”

“Yes?”

“Today, you didn’t just win a match like usual, you achieved a complete victory against my father. Right?”

“…That’s correct.”

“I feel a bit awkward saying this, but even though it was a complete victory, is the usual reward enough?”

“Are you asking for a different reward as a result of your complete victory?”

“It’s not that I want a different reward, but I just feel like I want to progress further than before. For now, you and I are in a temporary relationship. Of course, if you say that’s the end of it, I can’t do anything about it.”

“I understand. Since you’ve mentioned it, I will prepare a reward befitting your complete victory.”

“I’ll be looking forward to it, Relis.”

…What should I do?

I never really thought about the reward for achieving a complete victory.